Weeknight Meals: Country Captain Inspired Soup

by Matt Allison
on Apr 25, 2014

For those that have not experienced country captain, it's a southern-style casserole of curried chicken and rice. With the change of seasons my wife was feeling a bit under the weather and so I was inspired to fuse the two into a springr style chicken soup borrowing from the captains aromatic middle-eastern flavors.

Ingredients
Serves 4

1 1/2 tsp of coriander seeds

1 tsp of fennel seeds

1 tsp of cumin seeds

1/2 tsp of black peppercorns

1/2 tsp of dried chili flakes

1 tsp of cooking oil

4 large chicken breasts (deboned, skinless and sliced)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1 inch of fresh ginger (grated)

1/2 head of broccoli (diced)

1/2 head of cauliflower (diced)

1/2 tsp of ground turmeric

1/4 stick of cinnamon

1 large courgette (sliced)

2 large carrots (peeled & diced)

1 cup of green beans (diced)

A small bunch of green onions (greens reserved to garnish)

1 15oz can of chopped tomatoes

2 cups of chicken broth

Salt

Pepper

Step 1: Place a small saucepan over a medium heat, add the coriander, fennel, cumin and peppercorn seeds and toast until smelling fragrant, remove from the heat and grind.

Step 2: Place a large saucepan over a medium-high heat, add the oil, chicken, garlic and ginger, brown for a 2-3 minutes then add the above spices, turmeric, broccoli & cauliflower cooking for a further 2-3 minutes, remove from the heat and set to one side.

Step 3: Place the large saucepan back on a medium-high heat and add the courgette, carrots, beans and green onions, fry for a 2-3 minutes, then add the chicken, tomato and broth, reduce to a simmer, season to taste with salt and pepper and cook for 20 minutes.

Step 4: Plate up the soup and garnish with the reserved greens from the green onions.